


Blink of an Eye

by Szallejh



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game), Guild Wars Series (Video Games)
Genre: 2, An - Freeform, Blink, Eye, Fanfiction, OF, Other, Wars, guild, szallejh, tyria - Freeform, zojja - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-14 11:30:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17507765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Szallejh/pseuds/Szallejh
Summary: What, if everything you thought was real is shattered within the blink of an eye? What, if everything that had been a game for you, is your reality now? - The story of a gamer girl, who is suddenly stuck in her favourite game and has to built up a whole new life in Tyria - and besides fight a dragon and keep her social life intact. (Translation in progress)





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Bizarre flashes of light, dashing towards my direction in an incomprehensible speed. The feeling to be dragged forwards, though simultaneously an invisible force pulled me to the other direction. That’s what time travelling must feel like, a thought flashed through my mind. Thinking clear was not the problem, I just had absolutely no idea what was actually happening to me. I had been on the way home, it had currently started to snow again. Then something had dazzled me, first I thought it would be the lights of the cars passing. But then, all of a sudden, I stranded here - in this chaos of light and noise, which I was not able to associate. It was a mixture of crackles, crunches and squeakes, everything known somehow, but all together more than unfamiliar. 

The lights, which had been sheer white for the first seconds of my strange journey, now took on every imaginable color, changed with no recognizable rhythm and pulsed, more and less. The pressure let go of me a bit, and I used the opportunity to let in a deep breath inside my lungs. Now the whole thing seemed way less threatening. 

That was when the pain started. As suddenly and not less intense as the light tunnel. I felt the urge to scream, but pain in my ears made every sound fade and my face twisted into a grimace. Every muscle in my body clenched up and seemed to crack at any moment now. My eyes felt like they would burst instantly under the pressure lasting upon them, and every single bone threatened to split everywhere at the same time. With every flash of light dashing towards me, a needle invaded my skin, and within the blink of an eye, nothing inside my body felt the way it should have anymore. But the pain faded slowly, and finally the yearning scream evaded the full to bursting lungs, way too loud for my wounded ears, and way too foreign. 

That was not my voice! Was it? It had never sounded as strange as it did now. Deeper... Or just different. Whatever the light tunnel had tone to me, it had changed something. And not just my voice, as far as I could tell by the feeling inside of my body. 

The lights faded and left me in a room filled with Nothing. But shortly after my eyes had relaxed in the welcome darkness, everything around me disappeared, warped, was ripped apart and replaced with colors and shapes, which I could only see blurred. My body jerked, as I hit something really hard, what appeared to be a green meadow only seconds later. Still full of dizziness, I raised my head, took a harsh breath - and was immediately shaken by an enormous coughing attack.

It took a few moments to calm my breathing down a bit. I wiped away a few tears out of my eyes and used the opportunity to look around. I had escaped the light tunnel - but I was not at home anymore. Broad acres surrounded me, far away I could see the shapes of mountains, spiked with scattered waterfalls, here and there a few forests and it definitely was spring time. Everywhere I could see flowers blooming and the meadows brimmed over with life, though the animals looked not quite familiar with the ones I knew. Not far from me flew a big-sized beetle, but I was too much in a state of shock to care much about the abnormal size of these animals. 

_Where the hell am I!?_ With one hand I ruffled through my hair - and stopped immediately. I glanced at my right hand in disbelieve, as it definitely had only four fingers, that were unusual thick for human proportions and tapered like claws. Besides, the skin was way too dark! Instead of the pale white skin, that did not see much sun all year round, my new skin was a dark bronze. A quick glance and I knew that the other hand was changed like this too. Anyway, my arms were way too short and the lower arms too thick! And my hair had never been this long, and since when it was red? 

It all seemed familiar to me in some ways, but the thought would not want to reveal itself for now. Only when my glimpse lighted to my naked feet, which had no resemblance with human feet at all, the scales fell from my eyes. This were the feet of an Asura! Three big claw-like toes and a clumpy shape. Which would explain the urged body structure of course. 

But how was this possible? Neither did I take some kind of drugs, nor did I try virtual reality. I just had been walking home from a normal work day! Maybe someone had mixed something into my drink? 

Though I couldn’t explain it to myself, it felt extremely real. I was inside the body of an Asura, and I was sitting amidst the fields of the Metrica Provence, which was proved by the geometrical shapes and floating cubes. 

I was in the midst of Tyria, in a game which is called Guild Wars 2.


	2. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Szallejh finally realizes that she ended up in Tyria and explores the area, trying to get a foothold in this new world.

**First Steps**

I sat down on the grass to blow away the cobwebs in my head. After I had closed my eyes and taken a few deep breaths, I realized that I had to accept the situation the way it was, whatever would happen now. Even if this was only a dream or a bad trip, I was at least captured here for the moment. And on the off chance that this was my new reality, I didn’t want to endanger my life more than necessary.

I threw a glance down my body. What I saw was the typical Asuran body structure: slim shoulders, nothing that seemed like breasts, and from down the waist kind of clumsy. Actually not quite a desirable figure, but possibly the male Asura had other beauty ideals than humans?

That thought made me giggle, but then I startled over the strange sound of my voice. _That’s still not my voice!_ I thought, but with every sound I made, it grew more and more familiar. _Same as hoarseness, when you reach the point at which you can’t remember how your voice sounds in a healthy condition._

My clothing was very simple. I wore a cream-colored shirt, which was corded up to the top and had blue shoulder pads. It was garnished with geometrical figures in blue and pink. A quite similar coloring had the skirt (at least it seemed to be something like this), only that he was open at the front and revealed  dark brown pants, that felt really comfortable and soft. A dark wide belt was wounded around my hips, equipped with few smaller bags. One of these contained some coins, copper, silver and even a handful gold, as I had found out earlier.   
The shoes were made of dark leather and left the toes blank, furthermore I wore dark gauntlets and above gloves in the color of my shirt, which were also garnished with blue cubes.   
Well, not that bad for the start.

In the bag pack that I had placed between my legs were a few food supplies, a filled up water pouch, a map, and more stuff, which I had never seen before and had no clue what its purpose could be. In a side flap was a hammer attached, a quite heavy and impressing one. It had typical-asuran signs too, and as I took it in my hands, it seemed to be a suitable fighting weapon.

_Wait a moment!_

I had fought many times before, indeed only virtual and with my keyboard. I had never held a real weapon in my hands until now and my combat experience wasn’t existent after all! But in case this was the _real_ Tyria, that meant I wouldn’t be able to skip fights completely.

The thought to really hurt someone with this hammer made me feel fairly uncomfortable. _Or to be hurt in combat myself._

I hastily thrust the thought away and plugged the hammer back in its flap. The sun stood high in the sky, and I couldn’t sit on this meadow forever. First of all, I had to search an accommodation for the night, and then I would have to gain control of my new life.

With a sigh I stood up, shouldered the back pack and kept watch for a location that could be promising for a night quarter. Only a few meters beside me a path winded through the landscape, leading to the direction of a few cubic buildings. I followed the path, always attentive watching the surrounding. Who knew what hung around this place, searching for some prey?

Every so often trees seamed the surrounding, and I was glad to see that at least the nature had similarities to the world I knew.   
On the left side I spotted a small platform in the air, which three stony footbridges leaded to. The construct was sheltered by three pyramidal frames, filled with a glimmering blue diaphragm. The closer I came to the platform, the louder I could hear a steadily humming and buzzing fulfilling the air around me. Its source had to be the blue diaphragms.   
All around the platform floated small cubes, overgrown with pink and blue plants, some of them covered with vines wined to the ground. 

I had seen all this more than once in-game, but it had never made such a majestic impression as it did in the moment that I stood right in front of it in person. Slowly I ascended one of the footbridges, not quite sure if this construction was as steady as it looked. Above the platform stood two golems, at least twice the size of me. Whoa! I really didn’t want to mess with those. Luckily for me, they seemed to be in something like a Standby-mode, because they were beeping for themselves uncaring and didn’t notice me in any way.

Curious as I was, I stroke one of the vines growing on the platform with my hand, and startled when it constricted very quickly under my touch. _You have never been the one for plants_ , I said to myself silently, and carefully I descended the platform, glad that there had been no rain recently to turn the mossy stones into a slippery trap.

To my right I now saw a classic laboratory in which a brisk business could be found. Everywhere Asura of most diverse appearance bustled around, called things to each other, cursed or chuntered absurd things. I didn’t dare to disturb them in their work, and as labs would unlikely offer hotel rooms, I continued wandering in the direction where a town’s silhouette began to display itself in the distance. 

Here and there, some other Asura and their golems ran over my way, but none of them seemed to pay much attention to me. Few greeted hastily, and with my head hanging, I murmured “excelsior”. As I went along, I became anxious if I was able to find my right place in this world after all. How should I earn money to live? I didn’t have the faintest notion of how golems did work or something else that dealt with technique. Most likely they would call me the stupidest Asura in whole Tyria. I sighed. There would be at least something, some dirty work that wasn’t already done by golems. At least so I hoped.

Hastily I threw a glance in my coin pouch. I had a few gold coins, with them I could possibly manage to get by for a few days. And in this time a path would surely reveal itself.

I had arrived at the city entrance by now, a big triangle made of stone, which was flanked by light pillars on both sides. _Soren Draa_ , as I remembered. At least I was near Rata Sum, the main city of the Asura. My midsection suddenly was in a flap. I liked Rata Sum most of all Tyrian cities, and I couldn’t wait to see this masterpiece of architecture and the everyday life of the Asura with my own eyes. I just had to walk through a simple portal in Soren Draa and...   
I swallowed. What would portal-travelling feel like? _Hopefully not like my journey to Tyria..._

Awestruck, I passed the light pillars and went through the city gate. A comfy sound originated from the pillars, kind of a technical humming. Not too loud, but still all around.

Soren Draa for its own was a real masterpiece. A city, half built in stone, with towers, floating hammocks and stones everywhere, some floating cubes were even planted with trees! Blue lights surrounded me anywhere I looked, and sounds from the labs assaulted me from all sides. Cries, clanking, beeping, humming, golem’s steps on the stone.

I must have looked quite silly, standing there with the mouth open and staring around, because another Asura stood beside me grinning and said: “Each time you come in it’s a treat to the eyes, isn’t it?”

Startled, I forced myself to close my mouth and stared at the ground to hide the blush ascending in my face. “Eh... Yes. Absolutely fantastic. As if you were here for the first time.” I cleared my throat. The Asura shook his head amused and when I finally dared to lift my head, he had long disappeared in the bustle.

_Huh. Maybe I shouldn’t behave that stupid next time, if I don’t want to be the main attraction today._

So I set myself upright and went along the street, while I tried to look around as unsuspicious as possible. I ascended a huge amount of stairs and already saw the portal at the end of the street, which would lead me to Rata Sum. But a glance towards the heaven was enough and I knew that evening was coming and I wanted to rest a night first, before I hurled myself in the next adventure. The fair blue had long been replaced by a color play in yellow, violet and pink, which painted the clouds in wonderful patterns and deigned a look upon the first stars of night. When did it get this dark?

Luckily for me, a pyramidal entrance was located to my right, that indicated a few tables and chairs in its inside. Above the entrance was a sign, which tagged this place as a tavern. I wasn’t even surprised that I was able to read the Asuran writing. At least a small glimmer of light, this way I would just be the dumbest Asura, not the dumbest analphabetic one.

Happy to eventually have found a stay for the night, I entered the tavern. Inside was a hustle and bustle, but the few empty tables I saw made me hope that there could also be a few empty rooms.

Single-minded I walked straight to the counter and saw a slight Asura behind it, and I wasn’t sure if the glance she threw at me as friendly or annoyed.   
The Asura had brown hair, tied to a simple knot above her head, and her eyes were made of an inexpressive blue. But her ears were gigantic! I knew that all Asura had really big ears, but these surpassed anything I had seen so far. If they didn’t protrude, they would have reached down to her breast.

“Excelsior. So, what do you want?” She spoke in a louder voice than I had expected from her tiny body. _What do you expect inside a tavern, where it’s always this noisy?_

“Eh, I...” I cleared my throat. “I am searching for a room for this night. And if that’s possible, something to eat and drink.” I became aware of how impolite I just had acted, but the Asura didn’t mind. She toddled to the wall behind her and took a key, carved with the number _13.  
Always a good sign._

She handed me the key and said “Room for one night and one meal, makes three silver.”

Nervous I fumbled inside my pouch until I found the correct amount of coins and handed them over to the Asura. She nodded satisfied and pointed me in the direction of one of the empty tables. I sat down and waited for my meal to come. Glad to be able to sit after all, I rested my head upon my arms and closed my eyes.

It seemed there were a few long, long days waiting for me.

 


	3. Rata Sum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting an unexpected companion and waking up with a huge hangover, Szallejh enters Rata Sum for the very first time.

It wasn’t long before a grumpy looking Asura brought me a jug and a steaming plate without a word and disappeared before I was able to thank him. I didn’t mind at all, because I was not really in the right mood for having conversations.

I took a deep belt and drew my face into a grimace. Though I couldn’t say what was inside, it had a fruity touch and was pretty strong. Perfect for my current situation. Another belt and then I concentrated on my dinner. My stomach was rumbling as the steam reached my nostrils. The excitement had taken too much control over me to care about stuff like food and drink during the last hours, but now I felt like I had starved for at least three days. _How long did it take to get here?_ I had lost every feeling for time during my strange journey. Thinking about it, it had felt like just a few minutes, but my body said something else.

Same as the jug, the plate also was made of polished wood, already with scratches and cracks on the rim. Nothing special, but at least the material didn’t seem to crumple away in my hands. On the plate laid a big piece of meat, pig I supposed, a little too burned in my opinion, and besides it was a clutch of cooked vegetables. I recognized broccoli, carrots and kohlrabi. Strange mix.

Careful, I took the fork and scooped a portion vegetables right into my mouth and was surprised by the diversity of culinary herbs. The taste was foreign, but not bad at all. As I wanted to focus on the meat, I searched in vain for the knife.   
_No Knife?_

“Have you ever seen your teeth?” I just wanted to raise my hand and ask for something to cut my meat, when a high, kind of childish and almost annoying voice could be heard beside me. Either did I speak my thoughts out loud, or my confusion had been obvious to tell.

The voice totally ripped me out of my thoughts, and with a jolt I soared up and bumped the knee against the table rim. Hissing, I breathed for air and clenched my teeth together and suppressed a painful groan. _Ouch, that hurt!_ I doubled over a bit, and as the pain reduced I threw a glance at this unexpected guest.   
And bumped the knee once more as I recognized who was sitting there next to me.

The asura was bald and had ash-gray skin. Big blue eyes focused on me interested and a small mouth was grinning in amusement. The pointed ears were covered by small gold-garnished plates, some of which brown ties dangled and swayed to and fro with every small movement. Also the rest of the armor was hold mostly in blue and sparkled as it had been newly repaired and gentrified.

“Y-You... You are Zo-Zojja! THE Zojja!” was the only thing I could say in this moment, for more I was too busy holding and rubbing my knee and staring upon the asura with my mouth open.

“That’s who I am, I suppose. Indeed. A real genius.” She said with an arched brow. I realized how stupid I was looking and my face heated up in disgrace.   
Zojja cleared her throat and looked in my eyes. “And you are...?”  
“Oh, ehm, I...” _Your name, dumbass. Just give her your nickname!_ “I’m... I’m Szallejh!” Grinning, I reached out my hand to Zojja, which she took after a brief moment of confusion. It didn’t seem to be common practice for asura to shake each other’s hands.

_Rule number one: Hand-shaking - human._

“Well, _Szallejh_. To come back to our basic topic. You don’t have a knife, because the teeth of an asura are obviously sharp enough to do this task on their own.” Zojja said this with amazement in her voice, which even I could hear, and I supposed I carried a very strange impression with me. An asura with absolutely no clue about asurans. So either a young woman, who suddenly got struck in a completely different world, or - which had to be more likely to Zojja - a fully retarded member of her species. Maybe she assumed that in my krewe some experiment had gone so badly wrong, that it had totally screwed up my mind. Wouldn’t be the first time for sure; stuff like this happened all the time.

“Eh, yes, of course.” I replied idiotic and impaled the meat with the fork, to bite off a big piece. Tasted good, though it was black on the outside, it was unexpected juicy on the inside, and I really bet on pork.  But now I realized what Zojja had meant with her words. The big piece of meat obviously caused chewing problems, it would be better next time to bite off only small pieces, one after another. I swallowed and wiped a drop of meat juice from my chin with the back of my hand, as I realized that Zojja had been watching me all the time. Great. A retarded moron with really bad table manners. A better first impression would not have been possible at all.

But Zojja didn’t seem to care much about that. She ordered herself something to drink and shifted a bit towards me. “So. What exactly has happened with you out there in the fields?” She whispered, so no one else inside this tavern could hear it.

“Eh?” I said with my mouth full, because I was too much focused in eating to understand what Zojja was up to.

The same grumpy asura, who had brought me my food, now wordlessly plunked a jug in front of her, and she took a deep swallow. “Well then. You appear out of nothing, float in the air for a while and then bellyland in the middle of a meadow. That didn’t look like teleportation, if you ask me. Then you stare at the distance for ages and cough your guts out. So if this was a kind of teleportation, then I would urgently replace or at least repair the teleport device if I was you. Otherwise, you won’t arrive at your destination in one piece next time.” She grinned at me and made no move to hide her curiosity. Sure, the way she explained it, it must have looked really strange for outsiders. I didn’t grasp the basics of it anyway at all. Now hearing it from the few of another didn’t left the case less strange.

“It was no kind of teleportation... I think.” I took a deep swallow from the jug to wash down the meat. Casually, my tongue touched a row of small, utterly sharp teeth, which made me grin too.

“What else was it? A kind of spell?”

“I... Believe me, I have no clue! All I know is so absurd, you would never ever believe me one word. You would think that the lab ceiling has crashed down on my head.” I bit off another piece of meat. It was strange to say things like that, but I would get as used to it as I did to the voice, that got more and more familiar, the more I spoke. At least it started to sound like _my voice_.

Zojja giggled faintly. “Well, I already assume that. But believe me; I have seen many things in my life. I have fought dragon champions and their masters and I won! I am the greatest genius in Rata Sum. If someone is going to figure out absurd things, then it should be me, don’t you think?” She pointed her thumb proudly on her little chest.

I scratched on my back head nervously and looked around faintly in panic, to be sure that no one was listening to our conversation. “The truth is, that I’m not from here at all.”

“I already considered that, with your behavior! So there are other asura outside Tyria?”

“No, not like this. Not from this country... Not from this world.”

Confusion appeared upon Zojja’s face, and she definitely took the fallen lab ceiling into account again.

“You have to know, there is another world... Without magic and without dragons. A world full of humans. No asura, sylvari, no charr. In this world, the people know the stories of Tyria, of Destiny’s Edge, the Pact...”

Zojja shook her head. She didn’t believe me, as I could obviously read the signs of doubt inside her eyes.   
Frustrated, I took another swallow. “Look, I knew you wouldn’t believe me! Even I don’t want to believe all those things that have happened to me today.” I leaned my chin against the jug’s rim and deflated the air noisy through my nose.   
But then the expression of disbelieve vanished of Zojjas face, replaced through the natural curiosity of the asura. “Keep talking.”

 

Zojja waved to one of the asura and ordered two more drinks for us. It already was the fourth round, and with every swallow I felt more and more dizzy and the words flew easier from my tongue. I had told Zojja my whole story, in every smallest detail, and answered far more questions, which she couldn’t let unasked after I finished talking. I had never been a good drinker, and as the fourth jug now stood in front of my nose, I felt comfortably warm and the surrounding seemed to spin around in every direction. Zojja was running out of questions, because we had been quiet now for a while. Intensively, I stared into the reddish brewage and wondered why the jug was moving itself, though I kept my hands completely off it. Was this a kind of earthquake?

“Tell me, Zojja.. What exactly is this stuff we are drinking all the time?”

Even Zojjas grayish face had assumed a blowzy color, but she seemed to handle bigger amounts of alcohol much better than I did. At least her voice sounded steady and solid, not as mumbled as mine. “This, my dear, is Juniberry-Gin. The best gin you will find in and around Rata Sum.”

_Hah, that’s why I had recognized the fruity touch before!_

“Well, all the same it takes hold of you very fast! This, or with this body I’m just not able to hold my drinks.”

Zojja laughed. “So that is something you can fix quite easy. But I would concern about more important things for now, if I was you.”

“For example a steadily growing pressure on my bladder.” I murmured, because slowly the liquid didn’t just become noticeable inside my head. I scratched behind one of my impossibly long ears and asked, grinning: “Eh, Zojja... Where do I find... I mean... The...”

Zojja laughed out loud again. It sounded beautiful; she had a silvery laugh, which almost sounded like bells. When she was laughing, the annoying undertone she usually had while talking disappeared completely out of her voice. This _I know everything and you know nothing,_ which she used to make clear to everyone she met. Well, she was right at least in my case. But I was convinced that she had this attitude towards everyone. She used to talk in this tone even in front of her former master, Snaff.

I glanced in the direction Zojja was now pointing at, and saw a dark, nondescript door at the end of the hallway, and a green light glowing above it. _That must be it._

Careful I arose from the bench seat, trying to avoid more knee-against-table impacts. The way it felt, there was already a gigantic bruise over the whole leg, I didn’t need this a third time. But as soon as I was standing, the room started to rotate itself faster and faster, and I had to cling on the table first for a moment, so I wouldn’t fall over.

“You won’t handle a fifth round this evening, it seems.” Zojja joked and leaned back to enjoy the show. I rolled my eyes the way I was sure she would see, and groped my way carefully to the door, which seemed to be too far away by now.

_Rule number two: Don’t drink too much the first time when you don’t know what you’re drinking!_

After what seemed like ages (it must have been only a few seconds), I had arrived at the door. It was a plain wooden door, which showed already a few scratches. I supposed there were more usually troublemakers and brawls inside this tavern, darting plates and other objects.   
At the door hung a disc, showing simply the symbol of thee waves, lying on top of each other. _Simple._ The light above the doorframe still glowed green, and I took that as sign to step inside.

As I reached for the handle, I could hear the sound of water, but in that moment I was not sure if this was reality or just made of dizzy thoughts in my head. But as I opened the door and the sound grew much louder, I knew that this was one of the last signs of my soberness.   
I entered the room and closed the door behind me, there was no such thing like a key, but the light, which could be also seen on the inside, now turned from green to red.

_let’s hope that no one is so drunk that he won’t recognize the difference between green and red._

The room itself was nothing more as a small chamber without windows. The ceiling glowed in geometrical patterns and I could hear a steadily humming besides the water rushing. The rush came from a kind-of-toilet, as I could now realize, which in actual fact was more a block with a hole in the middle. Inside the hole was a channel floated by water: The source of the water rushing. I could locate neither toilet paper nor a flushing, but I also had absolutely no clue about an asuran’s toilet-peculiarities.

With trembling fingers I tinkered around on the belt, what would have been way easier in a sober condition than it was now. But after a few moments I could manage the difficulties and loosened the belt, so that I could take the pants off and take a seat on the wooden toilet. The curiosity caused me to throw a glance of what was located under the pants, and with a sigh of relieve I determined that the body structure of an asura at least had a few rudimentarily similarities to humans. At least I hoped so.

Few minutes later I left the room with a crimson head and the light above changed to green automatically. The surrounding didn’t move around me anymore, so the way back to the table was way more comfortable and less shaming. At least I now had had the chance to take a glance into toilet-peculiarities of asura.

_And next time you will be prepared for the sudden water jet coming from underneath!_

With a sigh, I squeezed on the bench back to Zojja. She chuckled and pushed my jug towards me. “This one, and then it will be time for you to rest a bit, I suppose. Don’t you think?”

I nodded and took a nip from the juniberry-gin. I had not known the taste of these berries before, but I liked them. At least the fermented version.

“Suppose we have a lot to do the next days, hm?”

“You can say that again! I have to introduce you to the arcane council members, have to explain them your situation without sounding like a maniac, I have to get you an accommodation and work...” Zojja didn’t sound concerned or stressed about this vision at all, she even seemed to be amused about it.

Suddenly a question popped up in my head. I frowned and stared at Zojja. “Why do you have such an interest in me at all? You don’t have any responsibility for me. Shouldn’t it be all the same to you what I will do and how I will cope with all that?”

Zojja seemed truly surprised of my question and took a moment to think about, how she would phrase her answer best. “Well, Szallejh... It doesn’t happen every day that an asura falls down from the sky. You appear to be a very interesting person. And, to be honest, I want to be the first person to discover whatever you are and besides... you’re likeable. I think.” The last sentence even surprised Zojja and I smiled, after I had emptied my jug.

Zojja grinned too, for a short moment, and then she cleared her throat and pulled both jugs to the end of the table. “It’s already late. I think we should go up to our rooms now.”

That was fair enough for me. I was tired, the day had been really tiring and the thought of the oncoming days didn’t make that exhaustion much better.

Zojja accompanied me to the bar, of which a small spiral staircase leaded several floors upstairs. In the third floor, Zojja lead me to a narrow hallway with some doors on both sides. She stopped in front of a door with the number “13” carved in it.

“This is your room, isn’t it? You would do well to lock the door behind you. We’ll continue talking tomorrow while breakfast.” With these words and a small wave, Zojja disappeared behind the stairs. I fumbled around in my bag to find the key and then locked the door, as Zojja had advised me. Inside it was dark, and I could only figure out shadows of furniture, but I was too tired to search for a light source. I urgently threw my back pack in one corner and launched myself on what looked like a hammock in the dark. The material was comfortably soft and eased a bit under my weight, though the hammock had a slightly musty smell. At the footboard laid a neatly folded blanket, which I now spread out over me. It was light, but it kept warm enough. And I barely had ensconced myself as I already felt asleep and dreamt of the crazy light tunnel, but without all the pain and other vexations.

 

The next morning I felt as if I had died a thousand deaths. The bright daylight, coming out of a three-cornered window next to my hammock, woke me up. Though there were red carpets on both sides of the window, I hadn’t thought about closing them the last evening. The light burned in my eyes as soon as I opened them, and as I stretched myself carefully, every muscle inside my body ached like I had a severe stiffness. Besides, my head throbbed so hard that it seemed to explode every moment now. I couldn’t put my finger on it if it was because of the travel or of the alcohol, but both together really had no good impact on me.

The photosensitivity and the pain cooled down a bit after I had laid awake a few minutes. At last I kicked the blanket to one end of the hammock, which was yellow-blue squared as I could see now, and swung my feet over the rim of the hammock. The bottom was cold, but that didn’t really upset me. Only now I realized that I was wearing my whole outfit from yesterday, which was totally crumbled now after the night and didn’t smell that good either. Distracted, my hand stroke over my face. _What would I give for a nice warm shower!_

Still sitting on the hammock, I inspected the room. It really was furnished with only the bare necessities: The hammock _(by the way floating, how genius was that!) was_ located near one of the smaller walls, the wall on the left decorated only the window and on the right was only the door, still holding the key in its lock. _Calming_. In front of the opposing wall stood just a small bureau, with a bowl and a pile of cloths on it.

The bowl looked promising; though it was not a nice warm shower, at least it was something to clean myself.   
Ignoring the pain, I took off my shirt and squeaked startled. I had never seen an asura naked before, and somehow I didn’t figure that female asura wouldn’t have breasts. Not even beginnings of nipples. Therefore a bellybutton and.... well.   
Otherwise the leathery skin fascinated me, so much harder and stringily then I was used to of human skin. My dark complexion was streaked with light grey spots in every size and form. What would I have given for a fullbody mirror in this situation.

After I had completely taken off my clothes, I stepped towards the bureau and stared inside the bowl, which was filled with blue glimmering water. Didn’t look that healthy after all, but it couldn’t be that bad, otherwise they wouldn’t give you something like that in public taverns.   
I grasped one of the cloths and dipped it in the bowl. Nothing special until here, no deadly acid, eroding my skin, no tingling that would promise evil. Au contraire, it felt like boringly normal warm water. _Why is the water warm?_

I washed myself with the cloth from top to bottom, whereby the water left a feeling of cleanliness and warmth on my skin. Okay, this was pretty nearly as good as a warm shower. After that, I dried myself and unknotted my hair with my fingers, after I had sat down on the hammock again. My hair was fire red, slightly curled and reached to my hips. _Not bad._

Now that I felt much better, I slipped back into my old clothes. That dulled my feeling of cleanliness a bit, but did I have another choice? If I would get an accommodation, the first thing I would do was to look for a proper selection of clothes.   
Swiftly I knotted my hair into a bun, glad that they would stay in this position without hair clips or stuff like that. However I realized that this room had no second door with the symbol of a wave on it. _Damn it._ And yet I had never been a friend of public toilets.

I shouldered my back pack with a sigh, locked the door behind me and walked along the hallway, searching for a door with green light. This appeared to be at the very end of the hallway, and finally after a few minutes, I bimbled down the stairs towards the bar.

Zojja was already waiting for me, one elbow braced on the wood of the bar and talking to the bar tender. As she saw me, she ended the conversation and came to me, smiling.   
“Ah, good morning! You are not really an early bird, are you?”

I shrugged and dropped the room key wordlessly. “Didn’t have an easy day yesterday, as you perhaps can imagine.”

Zojja laughed her beautiful laugh again. “I like your humor, Szallejh. Come on, it’s senseless to start the day without breakfast. After all, it’s the most important meal of the day!”

Now it was my turn to laugh, and I followed Zojja to one of the tables, on whom I could already see two plates and two mugs. The plates were filled with egg, a few steaming slices of bread and something that looked like cooked beans, and the mugs steamed tempting, most likely with tea. We had breakfast as if we had all the time in the world, and eventually I asked Zojja about our plans for today.

“First of all, we have to travel to Rata Sum and request an audience by the arcane council. But that shouldn’t be this difficult, after all I’m quite a genius and I know the right people. Then you need an accommodation. This will be the easiest of all, because the colleges’ dorms have always a few rooms to spare, even for not-students. More difficult it will be to find you work. At least you will have to fund several things on your own.”

I sipped carefully on the mug, avoiding to scald my tongue. _Yep, definitely tea._

“And what opportunities do I have? There has to be some dirty work that is not already done by golems.”

Zojja nodded. “There is. I doubt we will find a krewe that takes you, therefore you lack in technical knowledge. But some taverns always seek people for drink selling. Granted, it’s not the best way to make money, but it will do for the start.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.”

 

On the streets of Soren Draa was already a noisy hustle and bustle. I really had slept much longer then I usually intended to, because judging from the sun, it was nearly midday. We were greeted at every corner; at least Zojja was a huge celebrity for asuran standards.

We had to ascend several stairs until we finally stood in front of the portal that would lead us to Rata Sum. As I saw the swirling blue mass in front of me, which I had to go through soon, I started to feel a bit queasy. I thought back to my fears, that portal travelling would feel very similar to what I felt on my travel to Tyria. But I swallowed this fear down and glanced to Zojja.

She gave me a pitying look, as if she knew what was going on inside of me. She nodded to me encouraging. “Ready?”

I nodded. “Ready.”

Together we stepped through the portal, and it felt as if I was wrapped inside a cold blanket. Suddenly all noises became silent, and I felt a soft pressure from all around me. But that feeling lasted only for the blink of an eye, and instantly the cold blanket was replaced by the hot jungle air of Rata Sum. I took a deep breath. _That’s it already?  
_Okay, it seemed I could get used to portal travelling.

I opened my eyes carefully and stepped down the portal platform. I recognized the three-cornered cove, where on three portals led to different regions of Tyria, and swallowed, as I looked down the platform. It was no secret that Rata Sum was a floating cube above the province Metrica, but now standing on top of it, without any kind of protection and so high, that you couldn’t see the ground... That was kind of disturbing.

Zojja cleared her throat to get my attention. “So, here we are. Welcome to Rata Sum, the main city of the asura!” With a widespread gesture, she pointed to the city spreading in front of me. We ascended a few stairs and went to the midst of the main place, from which stairs led to deeper levels of the city, to a motley crew of laboratories, colleges and shops inside the cube.

I had difficulties not to lose sight of Zojja, even as I scurried right behind her. The ways were crowded with asura of most various appearances, there were giants, nearly as high as a human juvenile, and progenies, that were only as high as my own bellybutton. Tailors and Vendors screamed out most different merchandise and hooded figures most likely dealt their illegal stuff, in the middle of a public place.  
The air stirred with a mixture out of voices, murmurs, screams, laughs, metallic steps of golems and occasionally explosions from labs underneath that shook the earth. The tension in this city was little short of catchable, everyone seemed to be in a hurry and quite often verbal duels started, mostly because of concept thievery and who would be the bigger genius.

Head shaking, I passed all these figures and wondered if it would be like this at every time of day. I would figure that out soon - and much more.

Zojja had stopped walking, and I almost ran round her, as distracted as I was. We stood under a big floating cube, in which the arcane council had its seat as far as I knew.

“We are there.” Said Zojja and spoke to one of the nondescript, but without a doubt high-placed asura, who retreated after a short discussion and activated a few buttons on his control desk.

Zojja gave me a soft grin. “Step number one was easier then I had thought. They are going to teleport us up.” Her glance went upwards a brief moment, where a blue circle had appeared, which now hummed louder and louder. Then she grinned at me, again. “That might feel a little bit strange now.”

And a blue energy beam swooped towards us and enshrouded Zojja and me.


	4. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forecast, five years in the future. Szallejh and Zojja talk about the deaths of beloved ones.

_(five years later)_

The main place in Rata Sum even at night was regularly a sheer pandemonium. But as soon as it started to rain, most asura scarpered inside their labs or shops, which was why the place was uncommonly silent this night. I only heard the pattering of the rain and my own steps over the wet stone, and only scattered did some asura cross my way, most of them in a hurry and with an energy shield above their heads to hold off the rain. I didn’t have such a shield, and I didn’t care at all. The rain was warm on my skin and I didn’t wear anything that was not waterproof.

I slowly scuffed in the direction of one of the piazzas, which I liked to use as a safe haven, in case I needed to think about something. This piazza was completely empty too, so I sat down at its corner, let my legs dangle over the platform and leaned my head against the stone walls.

Something poured down my cheek, and I couldn’t say if it was just the rain or my tears. Usually I was good at keeping all the bad things that had happened within the last years hidden deep inside my mind. But it also had been rainy in the night in which I had lost them both...  
That was why the rain always unfolded the memories and handed me, as in this special night, over to a feeling of forsakenness and helplessness.

A virulent lightning flashed in multiple branches over the whole sky, closely followed by an earsplitting crack of thunder. Rata Sum was often at the mercy of heavy thunderstorms, and usually the lightning conductors did their jobs well. It seldom happened that one of the labs got stroke, and even then the reason mostly was no thunderstorm but a failed experiment.

Without any voice a shadow joined me, the only thing I heard were her rustling clothes, as she also let her legs dangle and stared into the night black sky. _Zojja._

“For any reason, I always find you in this place when it starts to rain.” Zojja didn’t waste any time for words of greeting. We knew each other well enough by now; no one had ever been able to look that deep into my inner thoughts, except for Zojja.

“Every time it rains, the memory comes back. They both died in a night with a similar thunderstorm.” Another flash lighted the terrace for a brief moment as if in daylight, only to leave us again in darkness.

“You blame yourself for their deaths.” It was more an assessment than a question, and Zojja had put it straight. I nodded.

“Zojja... Do _you_ blame yourself for Snaff’s death?” Zojja didn’t think about it much and shook her head confidently, so that the bands on her ears flapped to and fro. “No. I did everything that was in my power, and I hadn’t been able to do more to protect him. True, many years I blamed myself. But what could I have done? It would have been impossible to hold back Logan. HE is the one I blame, but not me. Not anymore. And you bear not more blame for the death of your friends than I bear for Snaff. Just think about it. What could you have done different, to prevent what happened?”

Slowly I breathed out and clearly tasted the salt of my tears on my lips. _Nothing._ There was nothing that I could have changed. Still, I couldn’t let go of the feeling of guilt. A big lump had formed in my throat, and whatever I tried, I couldn’t get rid of it.

“It’s just... I miss them so much!” I finally uttered and was straightaway shaken by heavy sobs. Eventually I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and a pair of gleaming blue eyes looked at me full of sadness.

“I know, my dear. I too miss Snaff, more than anything. Every day I wish he would still be here with me. I would get off the title of the greatest genius in whole Rata Sum immediately if I could bring him back somehow! But I can’t. Snaff is dead. I was the one who cremated his lifeless body. It took me very long to accept the fact of his death. There are things that have to happen, so the Big Picture can function properly. And maybe the death of your friends in this night was also needed for that.”

Zojja didn’t cry. Not this time. But I saw the never-ending sadness in her eyes, the great pain of even greater loss, and it hurt so much that I couldn’t look in her eyes anymore. I squeezed my face against the cold, wet stone, by that time completely soaked and worn out. Then I pulled my knees to my chest and supported my head on them.

We had been through a quite similar situation some time before, Zojja and me. But back then, she had been the one crying, and I had not known what it meant to lose someone.

“You know, sometimes I just wish to head back. It’s been five years now, and I have forgotten most of it. I don’t even know my name anymore, not to talk about how the other world had been like! All pictures and memories are blurred and declined, some of them already gone. But still, I want to go back sometimes. Because even if I have forgotten most of it, I never had to bear so much pain and suffer like I do now here.”

Zojja was quiet for quite a while. The other world was something we hadn’t talked about for a really long time. Since there was no recognizable way back we had agreed to forget it as good as possible. It hurt that I didn’t even had memories of my family left. How they had looked like, how they had talked. I had found a new home here, but had it been worth it? Was it worth the pain which I had suffered along the last years?

“It’s true; you have gone through much since you got here. But you were able to experience many good things as well, don’t forget that!”

I couldn’t bring a response. Of course, Zojja was right. I had undergone so much, got to know so many residents of Tyria, I even had fought against a dragon! And I knew now how to build a golem. But all that had cost much, maybe too much.

Zojja rose beside me, already as soaked by the rain as me, because of the wind blowing raindrops on the terrace now and then, and reached out her hand towards me.   
“Come on now. You should get some rest; tomorrow will be the parade in Lion’s Arch.”  
I seized Zojjas hand, but I didn’t feel well with the thought of tomorrow.

“I don’t want to go there.”

“I neither, believe me. But we have to. It is our duty as the heroes of Tyria, to honor the ones who have fallen in the fight against the dragons and to encourage the ones who are still alive.”

“Pah. I never wanted to be a hero of Tyria.”

That made Zojja laugh. “They will ignite great fires, for Snaff, Eir, Trahearne, and one for...”  
Her laughter became silent immediately. I too lowered my head.   
“You are right, Zojja. I should go now.”

Zojja squeezed my hand for a brief moment, a gesture that could reveal so much more than every word could do. Then she disappeared without further farewells, and I headed back to my room. Again, a thunderbolt blasted straight above me, and this time as loud as if the stone itself would crack into pieces.

  

 


	5. Phlunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything seems to work out so far for the plans that Zojja and Szallejh have - except there's Phlunt, who clearly doesn't want Zojja to get through with whatever she's planning.

“Is everything okay with you? “ I could sense Zojjas hand sustaining on my shoulder, while I tried to order my thoughts. My mind had gone a bit dizzy through the teleporting; it had reminded me somehow on the fast accelerating of a roller coaster. Only that it went straight upwards.

“Yes... Yes, I’m fine. It was just... a bit strange, as I would say.”

“Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.” Zojja said grinning, and as my condition slowly went back to normal, I looked around. We were in the Arcane Council, that I knew so far. It was a sort of circular room, which was surrounded by golems on every side. Peacemaker golems, I assumed. In the midst of the room stood - or better floated - seven settles made of stone, and they didn’t look comfortable at all. Thus I wasn’t surprised to see no one sitting on them, all asura that were present in this room stood together in small groups near the chairs or were absorbed in some kind of document. Until now, no one had seemed to recognized Zojjas and my arrival.

Above the settle ring floated a hexagonal thing, and from its center came a bright light. My assumption was that this was to illuminate the council, but I was not sure of that.

Zojja stepped forward into the council and I followed her like a dog his master. I was nervous, because I had no clue what Zojja had planned. She wouldn’t just tell the council my true story; otherwise they would put me straight inside an asuran madhouse. But if she lied too much, they wouldn’t believe her either.

“Zojja…” I whispered, “what exactly have you planned for us? Do we have a plan at all?”

“Szallejh. I am simply THE genius! I would hardly drag you along to the council if there was no such thing as a plan, would I?”

“Let’s hope for that. What exactly are you going to tell them then?”

“That is simple. We...”

At this moment we were spotted by one of the council members, which approached us with arms wide open. “Aaah, golemancer Zojja! What a pleasure to see you!”

The asura was surprisingly ugly. His skin was of a light-grey through and through, with not the smallest touch of healthy color, and absolutely wizened. The ears slacked down and were ripped on the edges, and the eyes looked cold and somehow even evil. I definitely didn’t like this guy.

“Council member Phlunt! The pleasure is all mine.” Zojja purred with a voice sweet as sugar, but everyone could hear that her words were not meant honest at all. And she wanted Phlunt to hear that too, obviously. I intended to ask her later what had once happened between those two.

Phlunt turned to me and raised his eyebrows. “And who is... this?”

“This is my niece, Szallejh. She grew up outside Rata Sum, to be more exact in the Shiverpeaks. But she couldn’t stand the snow anymore and therefore came to visit us in the jungle. And we are here now, because Szallejh would like to take out citizenship of Rata Sum, to live and to work here.”

_Hmm. Okay, That seems to sound credible. At least I hope so._

 “Weeeell, _Szallejh_.” I absolutely didn’t like the way he pronounced my name. But at least no one had thrown me out so far, so there was a bit of hope left, that Zojja had thought about her plan well.

“What are your strengths so far? Which college do you belong to? Statics, Dynamics, or Synergetics?”

I struggled. I didn’t know anything about one of these three colleges. I just readied myself to babble some kind of stupid answer, when another asura approached us.

“My ears, Zojja! Professor Canni just informed me that you have requested an audience in the Arcane Council.”

Zojjas face brightened again a bit more. “My dear, that’s high councilor Flax, the leader of the Arcane Council. He will hear our case soon and decide over your fate.”

Same as Phlunt, Flax had already seen many years, but his skin was darker and looked way healthier and his hair was full and brown. On his forehead was a blue powerstone, possibly to take control over one or all of these peacemaker golems standing around us.

“High councilor Flax, this is my niece Szallejh. We’re here today because of her.”

“Well then, let’s start with the audience!” Flax clapped his hands once and immediately a few other asura of both genders came together and took seats on the uncomfortably looking chairs. Zojja and I were indicated to take place in their mid, so we could stand with our faces towards Flax. _And with our backs towards Phlunt, which I don’t like at all._

“You better leave the talking to me.” Zojja whispered to me, just before high councilor Flax rose to speak.

“Excelsior! Esteemed members of the Arcane Council, welcome with me the well-known golemancer Zojja and her niece Szallejh.” There was generally murmured _Excelsior_ around us. “So then Zojja, you have the right to claim your request.”

Zojja spun the same yarn she had told Phlunt before with all her confidence, but this time with way more details. Though she illustrated me as the unlettered asura which I was at least, and reasoned that with the made-up fact that I had grown up with Norn and therefore didn’t have the advantage of high education. She offered that all so persuasive, that even I would have believed her if I hadn’t been in my own position right now.

“And now you’re pleading the citizenship of Rata Sum.” It was more a fact than a question, but I nodded approving.

High councilor Flax rose and threw a short glance around this circle. “The council will have to sit upon this case. We will inform you when we’ll have come to a final conclusion.”

Zojja thanked and lead me to the edge of the room, so we couldn’t hear them and they wouldn’t be able to hear us.

I stared at Zojja in disbelieve. “When did you have so much time to make up such a detailed story for me!?”

Zojja giggled like a little girl. “I am a genius, you forgot about that?”

I didn’t know what to answer and just lifted an eyebrow. “What if they don’t believe us?”

“They will, for sure. Councilor Flax trusts me. It’s another thing with Phlunt, but there are still the other council members. I have a quite good relation with most of them, so they too will believe me. Though my sister won’t be happy to hear that I am just attaching a child to her.”

 “So you do have a sister?”

“In fact, I do. And I wasn’t lying when I said she lives in the Shiverpeaks. At least she did until a few years ago, I think she is stationed in the Sparkfly Fen by now. Admittedly she would never be the one to raise her child between those always drunk Norn! But no one here knows about that, right?”

“Zojja, you are an absolute genius. I owe you so much for that.”

Zojja stopped me with the wave of her hand. “Well, I think it will be enough if you just visit Narru in time and inform her, that her beloved sister has attached a child to her!”

It was refreshing to see how much fun Zojja seemed to have by enjoying her made-up story  to the fullest. Nevertheless a few very loud bells began to ring inside my head as I head the name. _Sparkfly Fen..._

“Wait a second, Zojja! Narru is your sister? Warmaster Narru!?”

A mischievous grin was the only answer. Zojja was just about to say something, when a young looking asura with two dark stiff braids stepped towards us. She was fully clothed in brown and orange and did look really friendly, as she said to Zojja: “The council has come to a decision. High councilor Flax requests you to step back to the circle to receive the judgment.”

Zojja bowed slightly. “I thank you, councilor Zudo. Let’s go.”

We started moving, but quickly fell behind Zudo a few steps. I stared at Zojja with disbelieve and whispered: “You two have no similarities at all!” Shrugging, she answered: “Wherever you know Narru from. Only because she has some hair upon her head and I have not, you don’t have to judge that hard.”

I had to laugh so loud over this that Zudo turned to us obviously startled, and Zojja poked her elbow hard in my rips. But her glance definitely confirmed that she found our little conversation as funny as I did.

I had met Narru many times ingame, at least she was the one to lead the fight against Tequatl. I had always admired her and couldn’t await a meeting with her in personal, as I now could see her in a completely different way. But Narru as Zojjas sister... _And if they believe Zojja she will also be your mother!_  
While trying to avoid another loud laughter, a strange squeak left my mouth, but luckily no one had seemed to notice.

_Hey, so Zojja is my aunt now! How fast it can go._

The council already had taken their ordinary seats and Zudo lead us to the mid, so we again faced Flax. Phlunt stared at us with his evil eyes, and this time I had an even more bad feeling to have him in my back. I could feel it in my bones, how his cold claws reached after my neck to strangle me perfidiously.

“Golemancer Zojja and her niece Szallejh.” Flax rose of his seat made of stone and nodded to both of us acknowledging. “The council has come to a decision.”

An unpleasant silence spread through the room. Zojja stood there without any move; I wasn’t able to read any emotion in her face. I questioned how she was able to be that calm, for I clearly was the opposite. I wanted to grip her hand and squash it, so hard was my heart pounding inside my chest. So much was depending on this decision!

“As you know, we all are great believers in you and your work. You have always been a good apprentice to Snaff, have honored his remembrance more than anybody has been able to with the Snaff-price you invented. You have made the life of so many asura way more easy with plenty of your inventions and you are on the verge of facing the elder dragon Zhaitan with your greatest invention until now. The council is honored to get in touch with one of your family members, and we really would appreciate to accede your request.”

It couldn’t have worked better! These words eased my heart and I saw that even Zojja exhaled with relief. Until I heard Phlunt clearing his throat behind me. I could swear that I was able to feel his nasty breath on my skin.

High councilor Flax scratched behind his war, and my heart, which had been light as a feather a few heartbeats ago, now had dived to the ground. _Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no!_

“But Council member Phlunt has made his reservations. He wants to err on the side of caution, because currently there are enough contretemps with inquest spies, and he wants to bring about another audience, with you and your sister.”

My small bubble of hope burst into thousands of pieces. They didn’t believe us. Or at least the council believed us, but not Phlunt. And he had been able to convince the others not to trust Zojja and me. Zojjas whole body was under tension, but that was all she let the others show of her inner tempestuousness and her rage against the council. Unlike her, I had no other chance and threw a quick glance upon my shoulder, just to see how Phlunt looked at us with the most dirty and most insidious grin I had ever seen.

I peered at the stony floor to my feet, trying not to show my disappointment and indignation to the people around us. My hands were shaking and all my blood got to my head. _How could someone ever possibly trust this story?  
_What should I do now?

I was just thinking intensely about a plan B, when I heard Flax’ calming voice again, and fitful lifted my head due to what he was saying.

“Therefore we determined to grant your niece a temporary permit of residence inside the city of Rata Sum, until all formalities with you and your sister are done. Szallejh is about to enjoy the privileges of a citizen of Rata Sum, until the last day of phoenix in the year 1326 NE is over. Until then we should be able to solve every open question concerning the citizenship. We’ll warrant her an accommodation in the sleeping dorms of the college of synergetics, for this is the college of her aunt. By accepting the permit of residence, she obliges herself to appear in the Arcane Council whenever it is requested. And as long as she is no full-fledged member of Rata Sum, Zojja will vouch for everything Szallejh does.”

So still a chance for me! I didn’t know much about the asuran time reckoning, but as long as it was enough time to reconsider my plans, it would be enough. Not exactly what we did hope to get, but at least it was a start. Zojja and I grinned to each other for a brief moment and she squeezed my shoulder for a short, but incredibly precious moment.

“Here is your temporary badge.” Flax gave me an oval, golden shining item that seemed similar to a police badge. Except there was not much on it, just a few numbers and a button right in the middle, which probably would reveal more details through a hologram. “You’ll need that to get through all Asura-portals and to identify yourself whenever needed. Try not to lose it.” I nodded thankfully.

High councilor Flax adjourned the meeting and formally dismissed us. Zojja took a bow, and I tried to do the same. Then Professor Canni lead us back to the teleporter, where she made her farewells less formal with a long hug she gave Zojja.

As we were back between ourselves, I too couldn’t help myself and enfolded Zojja in my arms. She was surprised first, but she didn’t push me off.   
“Thanks. Thank you so much... Aunty.”

“Hey, nothing to thank for. But I wouldn’t be that happy if I were you, to be portrayed as the dumb asura raised by norn.” Zojja replied grinning and waved to the asura next to us, who was responsible for the teleporter.

“But what if they talk to Narru about this before we can reach her?” The doubts had grown inside my head after Flax had spoken about the urgency to clarify this issue with Narru herself. I was sure that Phlunt would use every little chance to get in our way.

Zojja shrugged. “They won’t. The fewest asura know that Narru is my sister. We don’t have the best... relationship, if you understand what I’m saying.”

“And why are you so sure then that she will play the game with us?”

“She is my sister, after all. And not to forget that she still owes me a really big favor! So don’t let it trouble you too much. This issue will be long solved before the council even knows who my sister is.”

“Well then. Another question... High councilor Flax said I would have time until the end of Phoenix. How... How long is that?”

Zojja seemed to be confused for a short moment, but then it came back to her mind that I didn’t originate from Tyria and therefore had no clue how the local calendar worked, let alone knew what day it was.

“See, today is the 36. day of the Phoenix, which means that you got 55 days left to get the citizenship of Rata Sum.”

 _Nearly two months... That should be enough to at least build the foundations._ Furthermore did Flax mention the year 1326 and the fight against the Elder Dragon Zhaitan, meaning that the events in Tyria overlapped broadly with the events in game, and that the Pact had just formed his big alliance to kill the first Elder Dragon. I was just at the beginning of it all.

_And you know things which you should definitely keep as a secret. If the events here really happen as in the game, then you will surely meet people of which you know that they will die over the years because of the fight against the dragons..._

I didn’t like this thought at all. But maybe there were a few things happening otherwise here... Maybe it was possible to save at least a few lives...

“Well, well! Look who has got a norn in his capital city now.” Phlunts voice cynically sounded behind me and made me wince so hard that I almost dropped the badge. To be on the safe side, I put the badge inside one of my pockets.

“Obviously no norn, but an asura.” I answered as calm as possible, trying not to show how much this man sickened me.

“Obviously an asura with a norn’s brain. How else should an asura think, who has lived together with these drunkards for the longest part of her life? You not even have graduated from one of the colleges! I suppose you will not even know how a proper monolithic integrated circuit works. You have no business here, skritt-brain.”

_Wasn’t I anNorn-brain seconds ago?_

“You have lost, Phlunt. We got everything we wanted.” Zojja now intervened. “And at least Szallejh knows how not to evoke hostility in the whole world within the blink of an eye. You should learn a thing or two from her.”

“Pah, as if I would care. I will get you soon, Zojja. And your dense niece too. We will see us again, that I promise.” Phlunt turned straightaway and disappeared in one of the side doors without saying any more words. Canni, which had watched the whole scene from the distance, just shook her head in disbelief and shrugged her shoulders in excuse.

Zojja laughed out bitterly and said, arms akimbo: “Congratulations, my dear. You’ve just got phlunted!”

“Hmpf. And it sounds as awkward as it feels.”

An extremely tall asura had joined us and changed a few words with Zojja. Now he activated some buttons for the teleporter, causing a bar on the display filling itself more and more with green and building up an energy field around us. Zojja threw a questioning look towards me, whereupon I just nodded affirmative and readied myself to get teleported down to the city center.

 

Midday had just passed when we re-emerged on the main place of Rata Sum. The sky was still shining in his brightest blue, and the jungle air had reached its highest temperature by now. I wasn’t quite sure if I would ever get used to this heat. But that did only play into my hands, because it made my childhood in the shiverpeaks way more credible.

“And what do we do now?” I asked Zojja.

“Well, I suggest we will split for the next step. I will talk to the dorm leader of the college of Synergetics and provide you a residence for the next weeks. And in the meantime you should get yourself an ample supply of clothes and whatever you’ll need for living.” Thereby she looked at me, screwing up her nose, as if she wanted to say that my clothes were not the most tidy and well-scenting anymore.

“How much gold do you have?”

I fumbled around in my moneybag and showed the content to Zojja. She inhaled in surprise and stared at the coins with big eyes. “My ears! Where in the Eternal Alchemy did you get so much gold?”

Shrugging, I just murmured “Seems like someone wanted me to have a good start.”

Then I regarded my already well filled backpack somewhat skeptically.  “How will I be able to carry all those things that I buy? The clothes alone will fill all the space, if it’s enough therefore at all!”

Zojja only thought about this a few seconds. “You have way enough money to afford an upgrade for your bag.” She grabbed my arm and led me to a merchant that not only sold weapons and armor pieces, but also a vast assortment of runes. “Just give me one gold coin.”

“So much!?”

“It won’t hurt you. And if we upgrade your backpack, then we’ll do it the right way, won’t we?”

I remained silent and gave my backpack to Zojja. While she was discussing the details with the merchant and kept an eye on his work, I looked around a bit on the market. Besides the merchant was a booth that sold clothes and shoes, and there was a big mirror too, the perfect opportunity for me to have a real look upon myself.

The person that awaited me seemed to be familiar, but on the other side was a complete stranger for me. The gray spots didn’t just spread upon my arms, but they were in my face too, and my ears were absolutely tremendous! They hung down with shoulder-length, and when I concentrated, I was able to let the tips wiggle to and fro.   
My lips were full and exposed a row of neat and very sharp teeth when I smiled, and the almond eyes were of an intense green. Though my hair looked kind of chaotic in its knot, all in all what I saw was quite passable!

I had turned around a few times when Zojja suddenly appeared behind me and cleared her throat. “Your backpack.” She passed the brown bag to me and I threw a curious glance inside. It seemed as if the space in the bags inside had increased by its tenfold! _Okay, I love magic. Absolutely._

“Hey, it is bigger on the inside!” I said and had to giggle because of the hint that no one else in Tyria would ever understand. At least it would be big enough to store a few proper clothes and shoes. _I wonder if the weight will still be that light with all the stuff in it?_

I strapped my rucksack on and discussed with Zojja that we would meet right here again, as soon as we both would have finished our matters. After that I would have some time to arrange myself and take a proper shower, and then I should start looking for a job. On the next day, Zojja wanted me to travel with her to the Sparkfly Fen, where we would talk with her sister.

“All right then, Szallejh. Take care of yourself and don’t let the merchants squeeze too much money out of you!” Zojja waved goodbye and disappeared on one of the ramps that led to the inside of the cube.

I took a deep breath. First of all I needed some clothes. Conveniently, the perfect booth was right beside me.  
For some time I was busy with digging through the most diverse offerings, until I decided upon a few of them. Those required some black, brown and grey pants, several of them elaborately decorated, as well as a handful of colorful shirts that could be tied up at the neckline and especially the sleeves were beautifully laced. To this, I added two vests, both in a neutral blue-grey color and with some bags on the sides. Apart from the pair of shoes I was actually wearing I only bought one more pair, but I chose one that also covered the toes.  You never knew when you would need something like that.   
Thereto I added some underwear and a few bands and clips for my hair. Due to my purchasing craze I caught a few frowns here and there, but I didn’t care much. After all I needed all this, and as long as I was able to pay it, no one should try to get in my way.

I paid the coins, amazed that after all the stuff I had bought, the prize was still cheaper than one gold coin, and stuffed it all except the hair bands and clips inside my small backpack, which seemed to absorb everything like a black hole. I was even more relieved when I shouldered the backpack and noticed not even the slightest difference in weight.

Did I mention before that I loved magic?

Again, I placed myself in front of the mirror and unraveled the knot, so my hair reached down to my hips. I could hear an asura whistling behind me, which made me smile.   
With the help of the bands, I bundled the greater part of my hair to a long braid, but I skipped two small strands of hair on both sides in the front, which I attached with one clip each. This way it looked way better than the strange knot, which had been on the brink to unloose itself anyway.

I paced about over the market place for a while, while I bought some peanuts here and there that weren’t indispensable, but I still wanted to own them. The sun was low already when I decided to finish my shopping and to go back to the weapon merchant. Zojja was already there and made conversation with a group of asura, which wore the symbol of the college of Synergetics. Most likely students that asked Zojja for a device of something.

Zojja closed the conversation when she saw me, and the asura disappeared in the crowd, still discussing their issue.

“So, did you get everything you needed?”

“I think so. And even if not, the market place is not that hard to find, so I can come back every time I want. And how did you do?”

“I was able to negotiate a little. You’ll get your room; the only thing I have to do is just give a few symposia concerning the ramifications of bloodstone magic to its environment. It could be worse, if you ask me.”

“Zojja, you’re a genius!”

“That’s what I already said, didn’t I?”

Our conversation went along that way for a bit, while Zojja led me down some ramps. Though here was no daylight, gleaming energy fields everywhere were fed by arcane energy and the hustle down here could definitely keep up with the one on the surface. The only difference was that on the lower levels were no pitchmen screaming, but lab on lab was strung together, everywhere was the sound of screaming, swearing, clanking and rattling. Students sat or stood around in small groups and conferred with each other about ongoing tests, and on every corner did asura give most diverse lectures. Golems buzzed around the passageways, delivered packages or urgent messages from lab to lab. Children ran around our feet, playing tag or trying to fool the peacemaker golems.

“That I call live.”

“Get used to it, it doesn’t look much better at night. You will hear that even inside your room. The noise is mostly the reason why you only see laboratories around here and no living rooms. Nobody wants to live inside this chaos, except the students that don’t have enough money for a proper flat and anyway have a shorter way to their college. “

“Well, that sounds promising.”

One last ramp led down, and it seemed that we had reached the lowermost level by now. At least I couldn’t make out any more ramps down, and even the light from the energy fields seemed to be less gleaming.

We stopped in front of a big stony gate and were greeted by the gate keeper, a quite good looking asura with scaringly tattered ears. “Excelsior! You will be Zojjas niece, as I suppose?” I nodded.

 “My name is Klakk. Responsible for the dorms of the college of Synergetics. Follow me. You are lucky, one of the newly refurbished rooms just got available. Once again an asura that graduated premature with just 13 years.” He shook his head in disbelieve. “Those progenies nowadays...”

“Saved by the bell.” Zojja whispered, “many students propel supreme dubious experiments in their rooms, that’s why some of them had to get refurbished not long ago. You could have just as well landed in one of these acid-corroded, with chaos monsters infested rooms.”

Klakk led us to one door quite near the gate and indicated me to step inside. The door had not been locked; hopefully there was a key at all.

The room was nothing more and nothing less than I had expected. Windowless, with energy fields above my head and filled with the steady buzzing of the ventilation system. A for asuran standards fair-sized hammock (floating of course), a bedside cabinet, a desk and a wardrobe, that was all the room had to offer.

“You’ll find the cleansing rooms at the end of the hallway left, the cooking premises on the right. Please try not to leave too much work to our cleansing golems.” He thrust a key into my hand, said goodbye and left.

“A real student digs, eh?”

Zojja laughed. “It will do for the start. Wait a while, maybe you’ll get hired by a krewe some day and earn enough money to buy your own apartment. At least you will be spared the common rooms then.”

“I suppose I got bigger problems at this moment than a common shower.” I said laughing, threw my rucksack on the hammock (which luckily was already equipped with pillows and blankets, because I didn’t think about stuff like this while I had been shopping), and got some clothes ready that I wanted to take on after having a shower. The rest I arranged inside the wardrobe, which unfortunately was as big from the inside as from the outside.

“Very well... You got your temporary permit of residence, a room, and something acceptable to put on. Now refresh yourself and keep your ears open for someone who maybe has got some work for you.”

“And what about you?”

“I have other things to do, but don’t worry. I will catch you up right here tomorrow morning, and then we’ll give my sister the pleasure of a surprise visit! But before that I have to ensure that those blockheads don’t want to blow up my laboratory again. That’s when you leave for just half a day...”

 

With the bunch of fresh clothes under my arms I went to the cleansing rooms, even if I couldn’t really imagine what would await me there. On my way I encountered many asura of most different ages, though most of them seemed to be younger than me, but the fewest took notice of their surroundings.

The hallway was quite long, I counted around 50 doors each side, whereby occasionally smaller corridors lead to the sides. _I wonder how many students will live here?_

At the end of the corridor the way parted to left and right; I chose the left one. Now I could choose between three doors: One door with the wave symbol (that I had already identified as a toilet symbol), one door with a cloud symbol and one with waterdrops. Latter seemed most promising for me, and since I couldn’t make out symbols for gender segregation, I opened the door.

Hot damp approached me and disguised my view for a moment, and the whole room seemed to gleam in an unnatural blue. Against the wall stood several tubes that were faintly reminiscent of shower cabins. Some of them stood open, while I could make out the shadows of asura in the others. Right now one of the cabins was opened and a completely naked asura stepped out. He didn’t seem to be upset by the fact that all the other asura could see every centimeter of his body, and as cool as a cucumber went to a pile of clothes, that laid upon a bench besides the wall. I constrained myself not to stare too blatant and likewise searched for a place on the bench, as far away as possible from the male asura, then I put down the new clothes and began to undress myself.

In the corner of my eye I saw another female asura that threw a bundle of cloth in a small cabinet, that started to buzz thereupon and showed a countdown on the display. Some kind of washing machine, I supposed, exactly what I needed right now.

I felt kind of uncomfortable running around in this room completely naked, while others could look at me, but no one else seemed to be offended. Apparently asura had no such distinctive sense of shame like humans did.

I threw my old clothes in one of the cabinets beside me and pressed the green buttons. Immediately, the machine was recalled to life and green letters counted down from 100. Though I didn’t wait for it to be done, but I turned to one of the placards on the wall, that said “Rules for using the PeDACUR - cleansing capsules.” Underneath was explained short and crisp how to start the _Personal Decontamination And Cleansing Utility Room_ cleansing process and that neither acid, nor some kind of waste had something to lose inside the PeDACUR. Whereas I had no intention of destroying something, I just wanted to feel clean again.

Carefully I stepped inside a free capsule and the door slowly closed automatically with a hiss. All around me was white milk glass, so I couldn’t look outside, and the bottom was rough to avoid danger of slipping. Although the capsule was not wet or rudimentally dampish, what made me wonder.

Shrugging, I activated the button that should start the process, and immediately I was doused by a stream of warm water. I was amazed that the water had just the right temperature for me: not tot cold and not too hot. With relish I straightened myself up under the stream, kneaded my hair a bit and sighed with relief. That was exactly what I needed right now. The water was glowing in the unnatural blue that I had recognized before, as the washing bowl back in the tavern had been glowing this way too. I decided to confront Zojja the next day and ask her what exactly this stuff was. But it didn’t seem to be bad, if anything.

Way too fast the stream stopped and a buzz filled the cabin. That was the second step: Decontamination and cleansing via low-leveled arcane energy. This removed whatever kind of dirt still remained after the stream, and at the same time dried my skin and the cabin. My body felt warm to the core, though the energy wasn’t enough to completely dry my hair.

Eventually even the buzzing faded away and the door opened with its faint hissing. Absolutely happy I stepped out of the cabin, ran my fingers through my still dampish hair and grabbed one of the towels that were placed upon one of the shelves, to dry the last locations that the PeDACUR hadn’t reached.

After that I threw the towel in one dedicated basket, or at least I supposed it was dedicated because of some other already used towels inside, and then I slipped in my clothes that luckily weren’t stolen by someone in the meantime. I did my hair like I had done before, then I opened the cabinet with my old clothes, whose counter had reached zero in the meantime. The clothes were clean, dry and most of all did they smell sweet. And all that within a few minutes.

_Asura and their technique, surprises me again and again._

I folded the old clothes neatly, so they would not crumple again, and went back to my room. There I emptied out the last things that had been in my backpack and decided to arrange the room more individual within the next days. So far it seemed rather bleak and spineless.

I couldn’t remember when I last had been this happy when I locked my room and rambled through Rata Sum. The sun had completely disappeared by now, but the inside of the cube was still ablazed with light. Some of the labs were dark and closed by now, but most of them had apparently nightshifts still working. Therefore most of the taverns and bars were now open, and many asura swarmed to those places this evening.

In passing I memorized the taverns that seemed most appealing, later this evening I would ask if someone there could use a helping hand.

And when I woke up the next morning, I would have a permit of residence, a room and - hopefully - a job.


End file.
